The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (339 page)

Pankhurst, Emmeline
1858–1928

1
The argument of the broken window pane is the most valuable argument in modern politics.

George Dangerfield
The Strange Death of Liberal England
(1936).

 
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1
When the deep purple falls over sleepy garden walls.

"Deep Purple" (1939); words added to music (1934) by Peter de Rose

 
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Parker, Dorothy
1893–1967

1
Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
A medley of extemporanea;
And love is a thing that can never go wrong;
And I am Marie of Roumania.

"Comment" (1937)

2
Four be the things I'd been better without:
Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt.

"Inventory" (1937)

3
Men seldom make passes
At girls who wear glasses.

"News Item" (1937)

4
Why is it no one ever sent me yet
One perfect limousine, do you suppose?
Ah no, it's always just my luck to get
One perfect rose.

"One Perfect Rose" (1937)

5
Guns aren't lawful;
Nooses give;
Gas smells awful;
You might as well live.

"Résumé" (1937)

6
Where's the man could ease a heart like a satin gown?

"The Satin Dress" (1937)

7
By the time you say you're his,
Shivering and sighing
And he vows his passion is
Infinite, undying—
Lady, make a note of this:
One of you is lying.

"Unfortunate Coincidence" (1937)

8
Excuse my dust.
suggested epitaph for herself (1925)

Alexander Woollcott
While Rome Burns
(1934) "Our Mrs Parker"

9
Sorrow is tranquillity remembered in emotion.

Here Lies
(1939) "Sentiment".

10
She ran the whole gamut of the emotions from A to B.
of Katharine Hepburn at a Broadway first night, 1933

attributed

11
Wit has truth in it; wise-cracking is simply callisthenics with words.

in
Paris Review
Summer 1956

12
How do they know?
on being told that Calvin Coolidge had died

Malcolm Cowley
Writers at Work
1st Series (1958)

13
Hollywood money isn't money. It's congealed snow, melts in your hand, and there you are.

Malcolm Cowley
Writers at Work
1st Series (1958)

 
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Parker, Martin
d.
c.
1656

1
You gentlemen of England
Who live at home at ease,
How little do you think
On the dangers of the seas.

"The Valiant Sailors"

2
The times will not mend
Till the King enjoys his own again.

"Upon Defacing of Whitehall" (1671)

 
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Parker, Ross
1914–74 and
Charles, Hugh
1907–

1
There'll always be an England
While there's a country lane.

"There'll always be an England" (1939 song)

 
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Parkinson, C. Northcote
1909–93

1
Expenditure rises to meet income.

The Law and the Profits
(1960) ch. 1

2
Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

Parkinson's Law
(1958) ch. 1

3
Time spent on any item of the agenda will be in inverse proportion to the sum involved.

Parkinson's Law
(1958) ch. 3

 
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